Bimaplan, an affordable insurance platform for the next billion Indians, has raised $500 K seed round of funding from Titan Capital and other marquee groups of investors. The funding saw participation from Y Combinator, Dream Incubator, RaSa Future Fund, Finsight Ventures, 2 a.m. Ventures, Rajesh Sawhney of GSF Accelerator, Anupam Mittal of Shaadi.com, Kunal Shah of Cred, Jitendra Gupta of Jupiter neo-bank, Ramakant Sharma, Ritesh Malik of Innov8,Roshan Abbas, PallavNadhani, Abhishek Rungta, Nisarg Shah, Yash Jain of Sparrow Capital, and Nimesh Kampani and Shanti Mohan of Letsventure. The start-up will use the funds to build the team and to develop the product. This will help the company achieve a $1 Million ARR in the next 12 months.
Founded by Vikul Goyal, Bimaplan is working with insurers to create over the counter, low premium insurance products ($5-50 annually) relevant to the needs of low and middle-income populations. In the past, traditional insurance companies have failed to target low and middle-income groups in India due to high distribution and operational costs and the lack of underwriting data, making it an unprofitable business. With the availability of cheap smartphones and low-cost mobile data, a large percentage of this population is increasingly making digital payments using UPI. Non-metro cities mainly drive this growth of internet users. India has ~700 million internet users, which is expected to reach ~975 million by 2025. Hence, there is a huge opportunity to create affordable insurance products relevant to the needs of this unserved population and distribute them through digital channels. Bimaplan aspires to tap this market potential.
Bipin Shah, Partner at Titan Capital, said, “The growth in internet users and evolution of India stack has made it possible to reach the masses in Tier 2 and 3 cities in India. These new-to-internet customers are making payments using UPI, and adopting digital apps for running their businesses. Bimaplan has the opportunity to leverage this digital literacy and vernacular content to educate the customer and create a seamless and transparent insurance experience.”
On receiving funding, Vikul Goyal, Founder & CEO, Bimaplan, said, “More than 150 million Indian households do not have access to formal risk protection or social security. Unexpected events such as illness, accident, job loss, or death of an earning member can push a household into a poverty trap. At Bimaplan, we are creating contextual and affordable insurance plans in partnership with insurers and building a unique distribution using digital channels.”